The feast day of Easter is connected to the discovery of our state of Florida by Ponce de Leon.
Although it is thought by many that Ponce De Leon first sighted the peninsula of Florida for the first time on March 27, 1513, and thought it was an island, it was likely one of the Bahamas he saw then. Ponce actually went ashore on Florida's east coast during the Spanish Easter feast, Pascua Florida, on April 7. He thus named our state after the day naming it La Pascua de la Florida.
After briefly exploring the land south of present-day St. Augustine, his
expedition sailed south to the bottom of the Florida peninsula, through the Florida Keys and up the west coast as far north as Charlotte Harbor. There they briefly skirmished with the Calusa before returning to Puerto Rico.
From 1513 onward, the peninsula discovered by Ponce that Easter became known as La Florida.
Ponce de León returned to the Charlotte Harbor area in 1521 to start a colony, but was driven off by hostile Calusa, and died in Cuba from wounds received in the fighting. He is buried in the cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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